Cathode ray tube displays, or CRTs, were used in most televisions and monitors from the invention of television through the mid-2000s, when flat-panel LCD displays became common. This means that most gaming consoles from before 2005 or so were designed to work with CRTs. While there are adapters of varying quality that can be used to connect these gaming consoles to modern displays, many retro gamers—especially speedrunners—prefer to play on the CRT displays they were originally designed to work with.
The commonly-cited advantages of playing retro games on CRT displays are:
Because the electron gun is directly controlled by signals from the video connector, there is effectively zero delay between when each frame is generated by the console and when it is visible on the display.
Many retro consoles had slightly non-standard framerates. (e.g., the NTSC NES had a framerate of around 60.1 Hz.) CRTs were generally able to adapt to those slight timing variations, but they tend to require additional processing (and additional lag) on modern displays.
Some retro peripherals like the NES Zapper relied on the lag-free response time and other visual qualities of CRT technology, and no longer function on other types of display.
The art for retro games was designed with the physical properties of CRTs in mind, and they tend to look better when displayed that way rather than when converted to discrete pixel values. (see e.g. here).
Currently, CRTs are not being manufactured for the consumer market, and the only option is buying used devices. Given that the value of retro games has risen dramatically in recent years, creating demand for the games themselves and CRTs to play them on for collectors, it seems plausible that some manufacturer will start producing a modern CRT model, or some other type of display that offers the same benefits as CRTs. Will this actually happen?
Resolves YES if some newly-manufactured model of CRT, or an equivalent display type, is available to consumers and used for retro gaming before the close date. Resolves NO otherwise.
Considerations:
At least 1000 units should be manufactured. (i.e., it shouldn't just be a one-off prototype or tech demo.)
At least three gaming news sites or gaming influencers should endorse this model as being as good as or better than typical old-model CRTs. (i.e., it shouldn't just be some cheap product that no one uses seriously for gaming.)
Should support at least one of the following connectors which were commonly used by retro consoles: RF, RCA component, S-Video, SCART, RGB composite, VGA.
Should be tested with a slow-motion camera and demonstrated to have zero input lag (or at least, no more input lag than a typical old-model CRT).
Should be verified to function with the NES Zapper or a similar peripheral.